Hi!!!!!

Hey!

So I have been transferred to an area called Twinsburg. It's so much fun! It's about 30 minutes south of Kirtland but we still go up Mon, Tues and Fri to do sites stuff. It's so cool. I got to take the Stewarts on tour a few days ago and it was so fun! Ahh it was great to see people from home. And I got to see Bro Stohlton too which was fun! It was a little TO 2 reunion in Kirtland. I wish everybody could come see the sites here. They're amazing.

Since I'm in a new area I'm in a new ward (obvi) so I'm now in the XXXXX ward and it's the greatest ward ever. I still love Kirtland and always will but I feel like I'll make a lot more connections in this ward. No connections to home, yet but we'll see. My companion is Sister L. and she is the best. She's from Washington and went to byui. We have such a good time together. And she's a really good missionary. We're going to see loads of miracles this transfer :] We have 2 investigators: E. and Bro L. They both know it's true but for some reason they won't fully accept it. So we're just trying to help them with that. Bro L. thinks logically so it's hard for him to see how everything works without proof that it did. Except the Book of Mormon is the proof so I don't know what the problem is. He's getting it though :] E. is so much fun! We went over to her house on Saturday and she had this huge mound of dirt in her garden so we leveled it out and planted some veggies for her. It was so much fun. And the elders came for a little bit to help too. They came after we already did the hard labor though so they just put seeds in.

We're working a lot with the ward right now and trying to get everybody on the same page with the ward mission plan. I love working with this ward. They're just so excited to do missionary work so hopefully we'll see some miracles here soon :]

This has just been a really good change. The only problem is for some reason I keep getting hurt. First my IT band is really acting up and my knees are hurting so bad because of it. Then I got a gross blood blister on my finger that makes me want to cry every time I see it. Then yesterday I went to close the trunk of another missionary car and forgot they had a bike rack on it and it slammed into my shoulder so I have a gross bruise there now. I have never been hurt so much in my life! I think there's even more wrong with me but I just can't even remember because it's too much. But oh well :] It's not going to stop me. I'm just going to need some help pronto when I get home.

I'm glad to hear everything went well with Bro B!!! I was worried about that. But miracles happen all the time so of course he would be fine :]

I don't know what else.. It's been a good week. Lot's of new opportunities lie ahead. AND A. (Our investigator in Kirtland) is getting baptized this Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :] I'm trying to get there but unless we have an investigator come we won't be able to. I'm so excited though and I know she is too. Working with her was one of the greatest things so far on my mission. Did you accept her on facebook? I love her. And I love all of you. Keep working on those mormon.org profiles. Oh, speaking of which.. We won't be on chat for the rest of the summer :[ Too much going on with tours and such. So that's a bummer but it's okay. Phone calls are fun. Tours are even better. Hopefully the Stewarts will agree!

Love you all,
Sister Maynard. 

Visit from home

Huge thank you to Brother Stohlton for stopping by the Kirtland Visitor Center to say hi to Sister Maynard.

TRANSFERS

Hey everybody.

 

This week has been awesome. A is SOOOOO excited for her baptism on June 2 :D I am too. I just love her so much. S is really hard to meet with but we're going to step it up and start teaching him. We had an awesome fireside at the VC yesterday. They had probably 8 recent converts bear their testimonies and we had a few musical numbers. P was the first to speak and it was awesome. Hahaha he loved it. We had 3 investigators there and S brought a friend! She was eating up. Until they mentioned coffee :/ Gah. I wish people would just stop drinking it period. It's so gross.

 

So, I am getting transferred! On Wed. I'm freaking out. Super stressed. But I'm in zone so I'll still be at the Visitor Center. Thank goodness because I love it there. I really thought I would get sent full-pros. We have so many sisters here now. It's crazy! And we're getting 2 more. Elder S is getting transferred too :[ Man!!! We got to spend 6 months together though so that was really nice.

 

This past Saturday was CRAZY!!! We were at sites and every available companionship was already on tour. Then a group of 33 came in and they needed another set to come down because 2 of us were on Chat. We were both in the middle of pretty intense chats and couldn't leave so Sister G was like "Sister Maynard, you ready??" And I was like "Ehh? Yeah?" So we just went on exchanges :/ Not sure if that was really allowed or not but it was so fun! I want to be comps with her sometime. Anyways. We took half of the 33 and it was such a cool tour because as we were walking out and getting to know everybody they asked where I was from and I said California and they said they were from Utah and I asked what part and they said So Jordan so I asked where at and they said wherever and asked if I had family there.. Well, yeah.. I do. And then one was like, "I know Maynards in So Jordan!!" and she mentioned Uncle Dave and I freaked out and blah blah blah. Turns out they all went to school with Dad! I don't remember their names though. But the grandma I think her name was Norma Jean?? She knew grandma and one of the other ladies knew Aunt Sandra and they knew all of them. It was SO COOL! THEN they were at the Kirtland ward the next day! So we took pictures and I'll have to send them home sometime. I. LOVE. SERVING. IN. KIRTLAND. It's the best. I get to meet so many incredible people. Oh and 2 of the Osmond boys were there too. I'm not a Donny Osmond fan really.. I actually don't even know if that's how you spell his name.. but still. Kirtland rocks. And so does Cleveland.

 

I'm not sure if there's too much more to update you on. I just love it here. The church is true. Can't wait to see where my next area is going to be :] Keep reading the Book of Mormon and praying and CREATE MORMON.ORG PROFILES!!!! Dad is the only one who's even close..

 

Love you.

Sister Maynard.

 

Was this was part of the intense chat session she mentioned?





Miracles do happen, Sister Maynard is cooking!





This was what they did after dinner





I LOVE KIRTLAND!





Hey,

It was so great talking to you yesterday! I'm glad to hear all is well back home. I'm not really sure what to say because I said it all yesterday but things are still going well with A. She's awesome. We're meeting with her tonight and I'm so excited!!!! And we're still trying to meet with S. He's cool too. We just talk about sailing (I promise I talk about the gospel too!!) And I kind of miss it so please don't sell the boat?? If you can help it. Orrrrrrr just get another one before I get home :] Maybe lets try for some kyacks. Those would be fun too. And a lot less expensive then the boat. Yeah, those would be fun. I guess we just need to make more friends in the sailing world so we can use thier boats!

So something I learned even more about this morning in studies is how much Heavenly Father is aware of us. It's crazy. Something was really bothering me this morning and I couldn't focus at all. I was trying to study about the role of the holy ghost in conversion because I'm giving a spiritual thought on that tomorrow in district meeting. But this one thing was keeping me from focusing and it didn't even really apply to me. So I went in the room and prayed to help me focus and I was just thinking about the situation and then I remembered as I was studying I read in the Bible Dictionary under "conversion" that to be completely converted we're given trials and tests and it just made me think that everything was going to be okay! In the end people will have the opportunity to come closer to Christ and that's why we're here. To become like Him and the only way we can do that is to learn and grow from our experiences. One of my favorite scriptures on this is 2 Cor 12:9-10. It's just perfect for when things aren't going so well. Everything works out in the end as long as we're doing what we're supposed to. Trials are just opportunities to come closer to Heavenly Father! It's awesome.

Love you and hope all is well,

Sister Maynard

Mom. Here's a picture of a service project we did with Community of Christ. The lady I'm sitting next to is our Relief Society president. She loves me most.

Watch out for those stairs

Hey!

 

Transfers are on the 23 so I might not even be here anymore.. I kind of feel I'm going out full proselyting.. :/ It would be fun but I think I'm liking sites too much so I need to learn to like being in my area more. I've been in Kirtland for 4 transfers already!!! Where did the time go?! That would be cool if I was here though for the Stewarts :] I can't give tours if I'm not at sites so I don't know how that would work.. I mean, after the 23rd anything could happen. My pday could change or I could even just be at sites that night. That would be awesome to see them. And there isn't a whole lot of "behind the sences" here. We show pretty much everything that isn't storage. But we'll see!   Sorry :/ 

 

As for Kirtland. This past week has been pretty eventful. It's been raining a lot and I slipped down some stairs and fell on my bum.. That was fun. They disolved the Mayfield ward in our stake so we just got a little area added to our boundaries which is cool! The Euclid elders were teaching this girl, A, and she's in our area now!!!!!!! I love her. She is so cool. I remember the first time I met her I was like, "Man, I wish I could teach her!" And now we are!!!!! We're meeting with her Tuesday :] We got to take another one of our investigators on tour too which was so cool. We were in the school of the prophets and the spirit was so strong so I asked him how he felt and he just said it was really powerful to be in that room. I didn't want to leave. I just wanted him to feel it so much that he couldn't deny it! Well, he wasn't denying it.. But yeah. It was cool. We're hopefully going to be meeting with him this week. His name is S and he wants to be baptized! He's good friends with a family in our ward and he will only meet with us if they're there which is the problem! we can't find a time that works for all of us. So we're just going to take matters into our own hands and find him and teach him. I really want to be here when he's baptized. It's kind of hard because I feel like I'm going to be transfered and we're now finding all of these people who have a sincere desire to learn more! But it's okay. Maybe I'm just here to get it started and then whoever comes next is who they need to seal the deal.

 

Something else about sites, huh?? I don't even know where I'm at in my email tour! I guess something really interesting is when the Smiths first came to Kirtland they needed a place to live.. They lived in the Whitney home for 6 weeks then they moved to the Morely Farm for about 6 1/2 Months. That's where they adopted the Murdock twins and the 4th general conference was held in the little school house there. Joseph gave the prophecy there that even though there were very few priesthood holders there that one day the church would grow to fill north and south america and it would grow to fill the world. You'll have to look that up to learn more. I don't know a lot about the Morleys. After the Morley Farm they moved to the Johnson Farm in Hiram, OH which is about 45 minutes south of Kirtland. That's where the tarring and feathering happened and Joseph Murdock Smith passed away a few days later from exposure to the cold air. Also, the revelation found in D&C 76 was received in the Johnson Home. You should read it. They lived there for a year and then they moved to the second story of the Whitney Store. They lived there for 1 1/2 years and finally their house by the temple was finished and they lived there for about 4 years. A lot happened in the Whitney Store. I don't even know where to begin :/ It's so cool though. I can't wait for you guys to come see it!

 

I hope all is well back home. I miss you and love you.

Sister Maynard.